The next day we headed up to Belfast via the coastal route and mad a pit stop in Malahide and Howth. Howth was definitely worth the stop and is only like 45 minutes outside of Dublin so it would be an easy day trip. We walked to the harbor and had AMAZING seafood at Octupussy's. I ate so much. We had calamari and crab claws and prawns. I even had an oyster and it was delicious. It was so fresh you could taste the brine of the ocean. After lunch we walked along the coast and I situated myself on a couple of rocks to do some writing. I must have blended in with the rock 'cause everyone thought they lost me and went searching for about 1/2 an hour. Clearly I am so good at hide-n-seek that I can't even control it.
So I had never been to Belfast before, but it is worth the trip. Especially if you take a black taxi tour. Our guide/taxi driver, Norman, drove us around the city and gave us the history of the area. I knew some of it but its just amazing that it is so recent. While race is the issue in America, religion id the issue in Belfast. There are literally Protestant and Catholic sections of town and a giant wall separates the two. Its more intense than the wall on the Mexican-American border. There is even a gate that is locked at night to stop adolescent mischief. Its kind of crazy. Norman said people are more tolerant than they used to be and anyone can wander into either area but you tend to live in your own area. And there aren't many inter-marriages between the two. It is all very clan-like. There is also graffiti on the walls, but the Catholic side is way more impressive.
We also checked out the Titanic museum and it was definitely well done museum. Especially since all I know about Titanic I learned from James Cameron's movie. Turns out Belfast used to be a hug linen town and that there was actually a passenger named J. Dawson (but Jams Cameron wasn't aware of that). Turns out a ship like that has a shit ton of rivets and I would despise being a ship builder. Tons of fun facts and tons of depressing memories.
So I had never been to Belfast before, but it is worth the trip. Especially if you take a black taxi tour. Our guide/taxi driver, Norman, drove us around the city and gave us the history of the area. I knew some of it but its just amazing that it is so recent. While race is the issue in America, religion id the issue in Belfast. There are literally Protestant and Catholic sections of town and a giant wall separates the two. Its more intense than the wall on the Mexican-American border. There is even a gate that is locked at night to stop adolescent mischief. Its kind of crazy. Norman said people are more tolerant than they used to be and anyone can wander into either area but you tend to live in your own area. And there aren't many inter-marriages between the two. It is all very clan-like. There is also graffiti on the walls, but the Catholic side is way more impressive.
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